‘I Just Don’t Care’: GOP Rep Defends Former SEAL Accused of War Crimes

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) admitted this week if the alleged war crimes a former Navy SEAL awaiting trial are true, he would still support him anyway.

The California congressman discussed the allegations against Special Operations Chief Edward (Eddie) Gallagher in a Barstool Sports podcast “Zero Blog Thirty” last week.

“I didn’t believe the charges against Eddie Gallagher,” the congressman said flat-out when asked about the case.

Gallagher was arrested in September on more than a dozen charges. The arrest came after seven fellow SEALs on his platoon came forward with concerns about the SEAL’s actions in the field.

According to the New York Times, the SEALs claimed that Gallagher needlessly put his teammates in danger by making rash decisions by firing off rickets and starting firefights. They claimed Gallagher often bragged about the number of people he killed, including women civilians. Two of his teammates recalled a time where Gallagher shot a girl in a flower-printed hijab with a sniper. Two other snipers said he shot and killed an unarmed man.

The main accusation that Gallagher will be fighting when he appears in court, scheduled for June 10, is how he treated a prisoner.

The SEALs held a captured ISIS prisoner who was wounded and thought to be about 15 years old. Gallagher allegedly stabbed him the neck multiple time and then the chest, killing him. Gallagher then purportedly took a picture of the body and sent it to another SEAL with the text, “Good story behind this, got him with my hunting knife.”

Hunter, a Marine veteran, told the podcast that the charges against Gallagher are too harsh:

“In the end, even if everything that the prosecutors said about the one ISIS fighter […] I frankly don’t care if he was killed. I just don’t care. That’s my personal point of view, and as a congressman, that’s my prerogative to help a guy out like that. Even if everything that the prosecutors say is true in this case, then Eddie Gallagher should still be given a break, I think.”

Listen to the podcast below (Hunter’s comments start around 31:40):

Hunter said he saw a video of the prisoner and claimed the captive was going to die anyway. According to the Times, SEAL medics told investigators the prisoner’s injuries weren’t life-threatening.

The congressman then admitted he had killed civilians, including possibly women and children, during his service.

“How do you judge me? I was an artillery officer, and we fired hundreds of rounds into Fallujah, killed probably hundreds of civilians, if not scores, if not hundreds of civilians,” Hunter said. “Probably killed women and children if there were any left in the city when we invaded. So do I get judged, too?”

What do you think?

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Duncan Hunter. YOU’RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. Eddie is INNOCENT AS IS ANY SOLDIER IN COMBAT. Do you think for one minute other countries are prosecuting their soldiers for killing the enemy. Its WAR. WOMEN, MEN, CHILDREN ARE ALWAYS collateral damage in WAR. PRESIDENT TRUMP WILL PARDON HIM.

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“I didn’t believe the charges against Eddie Gallagher” Duncan Hunter

I am confused, Duncan Hunter.

Why should ANYONE listen to you about ANYTHING? You and your wife are charged with using campaign funds illegally. It took 47 pages to describe all of your crimes!

Gallagher was so disturbing that the SEALs of his own team had to draw a line and turn him in. Why would you support such a criminal?

The only reason that Gallagher is making headlines is because his lawyer works ALSO for the Trump Org.